BTCs growth has been wild this year, and for those of us who have been around for a long time it sort of feels like it's about damn time. I haven't a clue what the top of the current hype cycle will be, based anecdotally on conversations I have with "regular people" it seems like most are just hearing about this for the first time. That alone indicates we are in the middle of the run as you said. However the frequent news coverage about Bitcoin being a "new paradigm" (which it is) is an indicator that we are toward the end of this hype cycle (the media is always late to the party).